A rare Chinese monochrome porcelain ‘Liu Hai’ bottle vase, Yongzheng mark and of the period, finely potted with globular body, narrow cylindrical neck and flared mouth, the neck surmounted with two figures of Liu Hai holding a lingzhi sprig, goading his three-legged toad with a string of coins, the neck and base decorated with a pair of bowstring bands, all covered with a claire de lune glaze, 16cm highProvenance: Private London collection, acquired in the 1960s Cf. For a similar pair with white glaze, see Christie’s Hong Kong, 27th November 2013, Lot 3494Notes: The form and colour of glaze of this vase is particularly rare. A near identical example, with a white glaze can be seen in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi, juan 1, Geng Baochang, vol. 1, pp. 198-9Liu Hai was a Minister of State of the 10th century and was a student of Taoist magic. He was said to possess a mythical creature, the three-legged toad, which could convey him to any place he wished to go. Occasionally the toad would escape, yet Liu Hai could easily lure him out with a line baited with gold coins. The scene of Liu Hai sporting with the toad is conducive to good fortune as the three-legged toad is also linked with the symbol for money-making. However, these characters are also linked with a story where the toad lives in a deep pool of poisonous water which emits vapours to injure people. Liu Hai could catch the toad with a gold cash and destroy him, alluding to the moral that money is an attraction which lures men to their ruin